The Party's Over (Long)
For now....
Welp, here's the rest of The Story.
Saturday - I had all sorts of plans to go to FW before The Event, but nah. Met BB and PG at the hotel for a warm-up beverage. We talk more and more and more. We drove over to The Event. Peg and I discover we didn't have name tags. Apparently, we didn't rsvp at the correct site. So we made our own. I, for one am pretty proud of my senior picture rendering. It looked surprising accurate, or as accurate as one can be with a fat Sharpie in hand. Curt V and I traded tags for a while. The group is still sharp. No one was fooled. I reclaimed my tag after a while. Mine was cuter than his.
A big chunk of the class showed up. Those at the Happy Hour agreed that they felt more comfortable with the lead-in.
It did seem to me that the dynamics of high school had remained. I made a big effort to bash those dynamics. Yes, I was really loud and obnoxious. I talked to guys who looked through me in HS. Some still looked through me, some just looked surprised.
I reconnected with the Girls. What a relief to know we could still stand together, crack wise and laugh louder than ever. (And JFK still slept with MM and Angie Dickinson, Anna Marie.)
The food was ok, but we were all so busy telling our 30 yr stories that the food never really had a chance to be exceptional. The drinks were there. I fronted Tinky bucks a few times to keep her in beer.
A stack of surveys was at every table. Typical reunion questions: who's been married longest/most, children - most/grand/otherwise, most/least changed. Frankly, I had so much fun filling mine out, but I think my answer to "least changed" (my underwear) kinda put off the crowd. Oh well. It's not like I was offering to prove it.
We went out aftewards. I must say this for FW, it doesn't shut down near as early as Everett. Everett pulls in the sidewalks around 9pm. FW was open till about 2. This little puppy, though, was really worn out. Sitting in the lobby of a hotel, hanging out with Tinky, Lisa, Eugene, Brian, Peg and Ann was fun. But yeah, I was quite worn out.
Finally made it home and slept in.
What have I learned? I figured out that whatever hurts, perceived or otherwise, in the past or present, can be released. I am who I am and I am happy with who I am. Some people get it, some don't, some never will. But you can always ask me.
Welp, here's the rest of The Story.
Saturday - I had all sorts of plans to go to FW before The Event, but nah. Met BB and PG at the hotel for a warm-up beverage. We talk more and more and more. We drove over to The Event. Peg and I discover we didn't have name tags. Apparently, we didn't rsvp at the correct site. So we made our own. I, for one am pretty proud of my senior picture rendering. It looked surprising accurate, or as accurate as one can be with a fat Sharpie in hand. Curt V and I traded tags for a while. The group is still sharp. No one was fooled. I reclaimed my tag after a while. Mine was cuter than his.
A big chunk of the class showed up. Those at the Happy Hour agreed that they felt more comfortable with the lead-in.
It did seem to me that the dynamics of high school had remained. I made a big effort to bash those dynamics. Yes, I was really loud and obnoxious. I talked to guys who looked through me in HS. Some still looked through me, some just looked surprised.
I reconnected with the Girls. What a relief to know we could still stand together, crack wise and laugh louder than ever. (And JFK still slept with MM and Angie Dickinson, Anna Marie.)
The food was ok, but we were all so busy telling our 30 yr stories that the food never really had a chance to be exceptional. The drinks were there. I fronted Tinky bucks a few times to keep her in beer.
A stack of surveys was at every table. Typical reunion questions: who's been married longest/most, children - most/grand/otherwise, most/least changed. Frankly, I had so much fun filling mine out, but I think my answer to "least changed" (my underwear) kinda put off the crowd. Oh well. It's not like I was offering to prove it.
We went out aftewards. I must say this for FW, it doesn't shut down near as early as Everett. Everett pulls in the sidewalks around 9pm. FW was open till about 2. This little puppy, though, was really worn out. Sitting in the lobby of a hotel, hanging out with Tinky, Lisa, Eugene, Brian, Peg and Ann was fun. But yeah, I was quite worn out.
Finally made it home and slept in.
What have I learned? I figured out that whatever hurts, perceived or otherwise, in the past or present, can be released. I am who I am and I am happy with who I am. Some people get it, some don't, some never will. But you can always ask me.